Brown hits Warren on Cherokee claim

BOSTON — Republican Sen. Scott Brown wasted no time lacing into Elizabeth Warren over her controversial claim of Native American heritage Thursday night, attempting to reignite broader questions about her character during the first debate of their fiercely contested Senate campaign.

Brown took the first question of the hourlong face-off to yank the scab off a controversy that wounded Warren’s campaign in the spring, when it was revealed she identified herself as a minority while serving as a university professor.

“Professor Warren claimed that she was a Native American, a person of color, and as you can see, she’s not,” said Brown, who repeatedly called on Warren to release her personnel records to put to rest whether the claim helped her gain employment at Harvard University or the University of Pennsylvania. “When you are a U.S. senator, you have to pass a test and that’s one of character and honesty and truthfulness. I believe and others believe she’s failed that test.”

Warren denied ever using her Cherokee status to get into college or law school and invoked her family in defense.

“The people who hired me have spoken and they’ve been clear about it,” Warren said at the debate, hosted by CBS affiliate WBZ. “I didn’t get an advantage because of my background. But this is about family. I can’t and won’t change who I am. I am who I am.”

Undeterred, Brown went back a third time at Warren. “You refuse to release your records and I think that speaks volumes,” he said.

Polling taken months ago amid the flare-up showed the issue mattered little to voters so Democrats viewed Brown’s attack as a sign he has fallen behind in the horse race.

The exchange at the outset set the tone for a testy debate — Brown consistently addressed Warren as “professor” and Warren attempted to dent the incumbent’s image as an independent who bucks the party line.

“He’s made it clear he stands for subsidies for the oil companies, he stands for breaks for the billionaires, he stands for the top folks getting special deals,” Warren charged.

Brown lashed back by dismissing Warren’s promise to be a tax cutter as “a myth” and calling her reflexively anti-business.